ASO Keyword Research: Free Tool + a Step-by-Step Process (2026)

ASO keyword research is how you find, score and choose the search terms people type into the App Store and Google Play, so your app shows up when they search. The fastest way to start is free: type a keyword into the App Store keyword tool to see which apps rank in the top 10 on both stores. Then run the process below: build a seed list, score each candidate on difficulty and traffic, find the low-competition terms you can actually win, and place them in the fields the stores weigh most. Done well, it turns store search from guesswork into a repeatable system.

The short video below runs this check on real keywords: who ranks in the top 10, what those apps earn, and the browser extension’s Pro overlay on a Google Play search.

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What ASO keywords are

Every time someone types “habit tracker”, “free workout app” or “budget for couples” into a store, they’re searching with keywords. Your job is to find the phrases that describe your app and build your listing around them. Three things to know up front:

• Keywords are usually phrases, not single words. “Sleep sounds for babies” is far more winnable than “sleep”.
• Relevance beats cleverness. The stores reward listings that match what the searcher wants. A keyword that brings the wrong users hurts conversion.
• Placement matters more than repetition. Where you put a keyword carries far more weight than how often you repeat it.

Keywords are half of app store optimization; the other half is conversion (icon, screenshots, ratings). For the full picture, see what is app store optimization and the data-backed App Store optimization guide.

How the App Store and Google Play use keywords

The two stores treat keywords differently, and treating them the same costs rankings:

	Apple App Store	Google Play
Title	High weight (30 chars)	Named in Google’s search metadata (30 chars)
Subtitle / short description	High weight (30 chars)	Short description (80 chars); Google doesn’t say how much it counts
Keyword field	Hidden 100-char field	None, uses the description instead
Long description	Not indexed for keywords	Part of the metadata Google uses; weight not published
Best move	Put exact terms in the keyword field	Describe the app in everyday language; avoid repeating keywords

On Apple, the hidden keyword field is precious: fill it with exact terms and don’t repeat words already in your title. On Google Play, there’s no keyword field. Google says Play search uses metadata such as the title, description and category, and its Metadata policy warns against repetitive keywords, so write the description for people and use your core terms where they fit naturally.

Step 1: Build a seed list

Start broad. Gather every plausible term a user might type to find an app like yours, from several sources so you don’t anchor on your own jargon:

• Your value proposition: the core job the app does (“habit tracker”, “expense splitter”).
• Features and use cases: specific actions and outcomes (“split bills with friends”, “offline maps”).
• Synonyms: how non-experts describe the category (“money manager” vs. “budgeting”).
• Competitor metadata: the words rivals use in their titles, subtitles and descriptions.

Aim for 50 to 150 raw seeds. You’ll trim hard in the next steps, so over-collecting is fine.

Step 2: Expand with real search data

Type your seeds into App Store and Google Play search and note the autosuggest phrases: those are real searches. Then feed your seeds into a keyword tool to pull related terms and, crucially, the keywords your competitors already rank for. Competitor keyword gaps, terms a rival ranks for that you don’t, are one of the richest sources of overlooked, winnable keywords.

Step 3: Score keywords on four metrics

Judge every candidate on the same scores so you compare like with like. In GetAppNiche’s keyword explorer, four do the heavy lifting:

Metric	What it measures	What you want
Popularity	How often the term is searched	Moderate or higher: real demand
Difficulty	How hard it is to outrank the apps already there	Low, especially for newer apps
Traffic	Install potential from the term	Enough to matter
Opportunity	Difficulty and traffic combined into one signal	High: the sweet spot

Difficulty alone means little: millions of zero-difficulty phrases have no searches. The opportunity score exists to flag terms where demand and beatability overlap.

Step 4: Find low-competition keywords and check the live results

Low-competition app keywords have real search volume but few strong apps optimized for them. They’re where a new or mid-size app earns its first installs, because the stores reward download velocity, ratings and tenure that you don’t have yet. Ranking for a handful of them compounds: installs improve your standing for harder terms later.

Scores point you in a direction; the search page is the truth. Open your finalists in the actual store, or in the free keyword tool, and look at the apps in the top 5 to 10:

• Are they highly rated and recently updated, or stale and ignored?
• Do their titles and subtitles contain the keyword, or are they ranking by accident?
• Is the result list short, or padded with irrelevant apps?

If the leaders are weak, mismatched or barely use the term, you’ve found a genuine opening. For this analysis run on real data, see best finance app keywords with low competition: 25 finance keywords measured by competing apps, winners clearing $1k/month and incumbent rating mass.

Step 5: Match keywords to search intent

A rankable keyword is only valuable if it brings people who want what your app does. Group your shortlist by intent:

• Category terms (“photo editor”): high volume, high difficulty, broad intent.
• Feature terms (“background remover”): mid volume, more specific, easier to win.
• Problem and use-case terms (“remove photo background free”): long tail, lower volume per term, high conversion and low difficulty.

New apps should weight toward feature and use-case terms: they convert better and are far easier to rank for than crowded head terms. If you’re still choosing which market to enter, start a level higher with the data-backed low-competition app niches.

Step 6: Place your keywords

Narrow the list to a focused set: track 20 to 50 keywords and concentrate metadata on 5 to 15 priority terms. Rank candidates by opportunity first, then relevance, then volume. Then place them:

• iOS title and subtitle: your two or three most important, most relevant terms. These carry the most weight.
• iOS keyword field (100 characters): remaining priority terms, comma-separated, no spaces, no repeats from the title.
• Google Play title and short description: your top terms, written to read naturally.
• Google Play full description: priority and secondary terms woven in naturally, once each.

Avoid stuffing. Both stores reward relevance and readability, and a listing that reads like a keyword dump hurts conversion even when it ranks.

A worked example

Say you built a focus timer for students. The head term “timer” is hopeless: it’s owned by system apps and big brands. So you go specific:

• “study timer”: moderate popularity, medium difficulty. Borderline.
• “pomodoro for students”: lower popularity, very low difficulty. Worth a slot.
• “focus timer no ads”: moderate popularity, low difficulty, clear intent. Your best bet.

You check “focus timer no ads” in live search, see the top apps are cluttered and poorly rated, and confirm the phrase isn’t in their metadata. That gap is your opening: the keyword goes in your subtitle, and you have a realistic shot at page one.

Step 7: Track, test and iterate

Keyword research is never finished. Demand shifts, competitors change metadata, and your own authority grows with installs and ratings. Build a loop:

1. Set a baseline. Record your current ranks before changing anything.
2. Ship one change at a time. Update metadata, then wait for the stores to re-index (days, not hours).
3. Measure. Watch rank movement, impressions and install conversion. GetAppNiche’s app ranking tracker checks your keyword positions daily on both the App Store and Google Play (up to 500 keywords per account). Export your shortlist to CSV, or pull it via the REST API or MCP tools.
4. Repeat every 4 to 6 weeks and after any major update or seasonal shift.

Common mistakes

• Chasing head terms. A new app won’t outrank the leaders for “fitness” or “budget”. Start where you can win.
• Trusting scores without checking live results. Scores are a guide; the search page is ground truth.
• Targeting dead long-tail terms. Some specific phrases have essentially no searches. Confirm popularity first.
• Ignoring intent. A rankable keyword that brings the wrong users inflates impressions and tanks installs.
• Stuffing or wasting space. Repeating terms reads as spam and can get an update rejected; on Apple, don’t repeat title words in the keyword field.
• Doing it once. A stale keyword set quietly loses visibility as the market moves.

Put your keyword research into action

You can run this whole process in one place: keyword discovery, difficulty and opportunity scores, competitor gaps, daily rank tracking and export. GetAppNiche covers 3.6M+ apps across the App Store and Google Play (1.1M+ iOS, 2.5M+ Google Play). See pricing for plans, compare the field in our best ASO tools roundup, or jump straight in:

Find winnable keywords now →

New to the platform? The getting-started guide walks you through your first keyword search in a few minutes.